DIY pepper flakes: Garden to Table

WhatAmberLoves
by WhatAmberLoves
I’m trying to recreate a gift. A friend of my husband’s is an avid pepper aficionado. He grows lots of varieties of peppers from seeds, cross pollinates them, saves seeds, and shares the bounty from his garden. In addition to fresh peppers, last year he gave us a spice shaker full of dehydrated pepper flakes and seeds. It was so good! All through the winter, it was a great addition to chilis, stews, and sauces.
This year, we’re growing 8 pepper plants of our own in our backyard cedar raised vegetable boxes that we built last year. Our pepper plants are thriving! Yay! (We have red MexiBells, yellow cayenne, jumbo jalapeño, Serrano, banana peppers, and cowhorn peppers this year.)
In addition to eating fresh peppers, using peppers for cooking, and freezing peppers, we’re having such a bumper crop of peppers, we decided to try making our own dehydrated pepper spice, like the one gifted to us last year! This is my first time attempting this project! We’re six hours into dehydrating right now (it takes 2-3 days), and our whole house is filled with the scent of peppers from the dehydrator! It’s not so intense that it burns eyes or noses or anything, but there’s definitely a noticeable pepperiness wafting throughout the house. (pepperiness? Peppery-ness? Idk. You understand… :) )
So far, we’ve simply cut the peppers in half lengthwise and placed in the dehydrator (skin side down.)


It takes 2-3 days for the peppers to dehydrate fully in the dehydrator we’re using. Then we’ll crush/grind them and store them in a pretty little stainless and glass container! I’ll update/edit THIS post in 2-3 days with our results.


Until then, we’ll be here, at home, totally enveloped in the aroma of fresh peppers being dehydrated!
So far, we’ve simply cut the peppers in half lengthwise and placed in the dehydrator (skin side down.)


It takes 2-3 days for the peppers to dehydrate fully in the dehydrator we’re using. Then we’ll crush/grind them and store them in a pretty little stainless and glass container! I’ll update/edit THIS post in 2-3 days with our results.


Until then, we’ll be here, at home, totally enveloped in the aroma of fresh peppers being dehydrated!
WhatAmberLoves
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
 2 comments
  • Hannah V Hannah V on Jul 07, 2014
    Awesome idea! I put pepper flakes on everything!
  • Rachel Bivens-Rees Rachel Bivens-Rees on Aug 06, 2014
    Totally need to be careful of the peppers. the powder after grinding can settle in your pores or on your skin and burn. I grow peppers from not hot to the hottest EVER!! we make pickled peppers, hot pickles, salsa.. you name it!
Next